A solid look at a surprisingly important and meaningful rite of passage for young women of a certain class. Fascinating!

I started this book several times and just could not get into it. I would make it a few chapters, then put it down and forget about it, a few months later I'd read a few more chapters and forget about it. I never did finish it and completely forgot about it until I saw it on my list for feedback. It was a really good idea, but the execution needed some work. It would be nice to have on hand in the store for a niche reader, but I doubt it would be a good seller without someone actively pushing it.

A thorough and fascinating account of the debutante as a both a catalyst for and product of social history.

I came to this book with a voyeuristic and admittedly slightly sneering perspective on debutante culture. What I actually got was an enthralling and poignant socio-contextual history of the role and <cringes> value of women in western society.

Richardson does an outstanding job of taking a topic that feels niche (especially in this day and age) and applying its evolution to the study of the changing role of women. The correlations between different periods of American and European history with the debutante rituals at the time tells us a great deal about the culture in a broader context. We even get a look into globalization as reflected through the debutante world at the end of the book, where Richardson touches on nonwestern debuts.

Fair warning: The book is incredibly dense and dry in parts, which is not in this case a bad thing, but did cause me to read it a chapter at a time spread out over several weeks in order to better enjoy it.

Thanks to Netgalley and W.W. Norton for my free review copy. All opinions are my own. I was looking for a non-fiction read when I stumbled across the gorgeous cover of this book. I’m a huge fan of the period romance and have read my fair share of coming-out parties, debutante balls, and other aristocratic functions. I thought this book would help me understand more about the customs of the monied elite. I learned all I would ever need to know on the topic. I found it to be interesting but at times a bit dry. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

We are seeing a resurgence in women's history, and finally are exploring topics long deemed frivolous. Kristen Richardson's history of the debutante is clever look at a social construction that dominated the lives of upper- and middle-class women for over 200 years. It played a crucial role in social connections and marriage prospects for these women, and could quickly change the trajectory of their lives. It could also hugely change life for their families (both birth family and married).
Richardson ties the practice of debuting to larger social practices, and does a fantastic job of explaining the social impact on all parties, not just the young women in question.

It did feel slightly jumpy, though. I perhaps would have stuck to one geographic region in a paragraph- the US is obviously a large country and jumping from New York in one sentence to the Carolinas in the next is a little harder to follow. However, it is still absolutely a great read!

Richardson's fascinating history of the world of debutantes is a fantastic look into an intriguing era of the past. Her attention to the social history of the customs of the ballroom and society helps the reader to really enter the world of a bygone era. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in this part of women's history, which was much more complicated than the portraits of white gloves, feathers, and tiaras sometimes make it seem. I've already recommended the book in my weekly newsletter, and it will feature on my website as one of my book recommendations for November!

This is a social history about debutantes and covers a wide variety of types of balls: historic British ones, African-American ones, ones in China, etc. I always enjoy reading British history and found the section on debutante balls around the word very interesting. I never got into a real groove with it, but did enjoy it. I liked the cover.

I really enjoyed what I was able to read. Unfortunately, the print was too tiny on my reader for me to be able to read it easily and I didn't have the option to make the print bigger. I will probably buy this book for myself, because it was interesting. It's not a useful subject for my 2 yr college, though.

As a transport to the South, I am fascinated by traditions that I only ever saw in movies or read about in books. One of those traditions is being presented to society as a debutante. It turns out that this tradition is much more wide spread than just the American South, having its roots on different continents for centuries. I was not sure what to expect when I started this book, but it is basically anything and everything you could ever possibly want to know about the development and spread of this tradition. There are several time periods discussed in the book, which can get a bit dry. Overall, it is an interesting read if you are actively looking for a book about debutantes. Otherwise I might suggest some fiction about the behind the scenes of entering civilized society.

This was an interesting look at debutantes their history, and impact. I'm found it very interesting and well researched. I would recommend it to history fans.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest an DC unbiased opinion of it.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much more than describing the rites of debutantes this book speaks to. Within the framework of describing the debutante phenomenon, the author meshes it with changing social norms and growing internationalism.

A few debs are highlighted to give the reader an understanding of both Deb and post Deb years. I found this book very engaging and I would recommend it to women’s studies courses. It’s a delightful way to read social history while becoming cognizant of globalization and it’s effects on traditions, here in America, as well as England, China and France.

Thank you Netgalley, for an informative and enjoyable read.